Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Wow, we’ve covered a lot of ground in the last thirty-six hours! We left the Village early Sunday morning with lots of mixed emotions. Everyone was excited to see the amazing sites to come, but also genuinely sad to leave. Over about three and a half hours, we left the lush, green, Mediterranean feel of the north and drove south into the desert. Along the way we could clearly see that we driving along the valley of a geological fault line with the mountains of Israel to our right and the higher mountains of Jordan to our left. The landscape became starker and browner, and the temperature rose steadily. Eventually the Dead Sea appeared on our left – the lowest place on Earth, well below sea level and still sinking. Our guide, Avi, shared with us some of the environmental concerns about the rapid shrinking of the sea, due to both natural and man-made causes. He also pointed out the caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and the sites of several familiar Bible stories. It’s amazing to see the REAL places in which these things took place, and to put them in the context of ordinary, modern places.
Our first stop of the day was a spa near Ein Gedi where we were able to swim in the Dead Sea. After a long walk from the spa to the water’s edge, across salt and mud flats and sinkholes caused by the receding water level, we reached the shore. Everyone delighted in the novel experience of floating in water that is ten times saltier than any other body of water on Earth. The sea bed itself is hardened salt rather than the sand, silt, or pebbles we would expect. There were giant clumps of salt build-up on the pilings of the pier. The water tasted incredibly potent and bitter (some of us had to ignore our better judgment and taste it on purpose; for others it was an unfortunate accident). The best part, of course, is the incredible buoyancy. It feels like sitting on a solid surface. The kids also threw themselves into the “therapeutic” mud with gusto! They coated themselves, stepped into the deepest quicksand they could find, slid backwards down slimy, muddy slopes, and generally reveled in the mess. It made for some really fun pictures!
After shoveling down a quick lunch, we went further down the road to Masada, an ancient desert fortress built by King Herod atop a high rocky plateau. We took a cable car to the top of the mountain and toured the ruins, with Avi teaching us the history of each section in great detail. It was an amazingly elaborate structure, with the palace itself cascading down the steep mountain face in three tiers. The entire fortress was supplied with water by an ingenious system of aquifers that captured the rainwater from two flash floods a year – the only rainfall they experienced – in a series of giant cisterns carved into the mountain. We were able to peer into the cisterns as we hiked down from Masada along the ramp that the Romans built to breach the walls of the fortress. That breach led to a mass suicide by the Jews inside who refused to be taken alive. Although the wisdom of that tactic is questioned now, the stubborn spirit became a national rallying cry in Israel for a time – “Masada will not fall again.”
After hiking down off the mountain, we drove the nearby Beduin encampment where we spent the night. We were pleasantly surprised by how NOT rustic the accommodations were. Although charming and run by actual Beduins, it is clearly a sophisticated business venture. Our “tents” were more like exotically decorated three-walled cabins with bunk beds, electricity, and hammocks on the porch. It made for a fabulous slumber party atmosphere in the group (although the boys now know that it’s harder to balance in a hammock while asleep than it looks!) The highlight of the Beduin encampment was definitely the camel riding. We rode two to a camel through the desert, watching Beduin shepherds drive their flocks in for the evening. It’s not easy to take a selfie while balancing on a moving camel, but believe me, your kids have it mastered! There was a lot of laughter and squealing as the kids bonded – or not – with their camels. Following a delicious traditional dinner, we heard a Beduin man speak about the Beduin lifestyle and how it is changing, and we had a chance to ask questions. He told us about his three wives and twenty-two children, who he supports in part with his work with tourists at the encampment. By the time we retired to our tents for the evening, we had put in a very full and diverse day.
This morning we climbed back into the minibus for the drive to Jerusalem. We arrived around noon. Our first quick stop was a visit to a friend of Tsipy’s who is a supporter of a Classrooms Without Borders. It was an interesting experience for our kids to see another Israeli home. They had visited Tomer’s middle class home in Karmi’el, and now they saw a pricey, upscale home in Jerusalem. Both, while lovely, are far smaller and less ornate than what we are used to in the US. It’s good for them to see different ways of living. We then had a quick lunch in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City (within the ancient wall) before getting serious about our touring.
Our main event of the day was touring the excavations at the City of David just outside the walls of the Old City. We sloshed through the aqueducts that were dug through solid bedrock under the city thousands of years ago. The tunnels were narrow enough that we often bumped both elbows on the walls to our sides, low enough that we walked through some sections bent over at the waist to avoid hitting our heads on the ceiling, and filled with cold, swiftly moving water that varied from mid-calf to mid-thigh in depth. And, of course, it was pitch black except for the beams of our flashlights. Not for the faint of heart! Avi had us turn off the flashlights and walk the last twenty-five yards in absolute blackness, feeling our way along the walls. It was both awful and amazing.
Upon emerging from the darkness, we went next to the Western Wall where some of us left prayer notes tucked into the cracks of the wall. There was a great diversity of people of all nationalities and religious groups converging at the Wall to pray with a variety of traditions. By late afternoon we checked into our hotel and had a brief respite before dinner at a local restaurant. We were joined by Avi’s two daughters, ages 6 and 9, who are trilingual. They know their Argentinian mother’s native Spanish, their American father’s English, and the Hebrew of their home country, all quite fluently. They were very entertained by our students’ attempts at Spanish conversation! After dinner we walked through Jerusalem to the Tower of David for a light show of the history of the city. We sat in an outdoor courtyard while a fantastic musical and visual show was projected across three entire walls of the surrounding building. It’s hard to explain, but the effect was fascinating. We capped the night with a little bit of shopping on an upscale avenue before taking cabs back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we will spend the morning exploring more of Jerusalem, and then head to Tel Aviv for our final stop. Our time is running out!
Take care,
Jerilyn